WEEKDAY 17 03 – Year II The Pearl of Great Price: Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola (Jer 15:10,16-21; Ps 59; Mt 13:44-46) ******************************** Friends, today Jesus offers two parables about the kingdom of heaven. Let’s focus on the first one: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a […]

HOMILY WEEK 17 02 – Year II On Being Good Seed in the Kingdom of God: Optional Memorial of St. Peter Chrysologus (Jer 14:17-22; Ps 79; Mt 13:36-43) ************************************************ The gospel today and the parable of the weeds of the field suggest that Jesus was not a gardener who would have known no one has […]

HOMILY WEEK 17 01 – Year II Intimate Apparel and the Kingdom of God: Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus (Jer 13:1-11; Dt 32; Mt 13:31-35) ********************************************* How do you feel about associating intimate apparel with the kingdom of God? The readings today invite us into a deeper, more intimate relationship with God lived […]

HOMILY SUNDAY 17 – B Jesus is the Answer to Our Deepest Needs (2 Kg 4:42-44; Ps 145; Eph 4:1-6; Jn 6:1-15) ************************************************** What are you hungering for? Are you dissatisfied with life? Put your faith in Jesus, who is the answer to all our needs. According to author Peter Herbeck, there are 315 men […]

HOMILY WEEK 16 06 – Year II Our Sin Never Confessed (Jer 7:1-11; Ps 84; Mt 13:24-30) ******************************************** What sins do you think are never or rarely confessed? Pray we might be aware of our complicity in social structural sin. On Saturday, June 17, 2022, the Aurora Living program wrapped up its first year at […]

HOMILY – FEAST of ST JOACHIM AND ANNE The Family as an Icon of the Trinity (Sir 44:1, 8, 10-15; Ps 132; Mt 13:16-17) ********************************************** Today we celebrate the feast of St. Joachim and St. Anne, the parents of our mother Mary, and the grandparents of Jesus. The gospels are bereft of details regarding them […]

WEEK 16 03 – Year II The Parable of the Sower: Optional Memorial of St. Sharbul Makhlūf (Jer 1:1-10; Ps 71; Mat 13:1-9) *********************************** Each year, when presiding at the Lac St Anne pilgrimage, I would ask the pilgrims in the shrine how many had brought a bible with them. And each year the response […]

HOMILY WEEK 16 02 – Year II Doing the Will of God: Optional Memorial of St. Bridget of Sweden (Micah 7:14-20; Ps 85; Mt 12:46-50) *********************************************** “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” The message for us today could not be clearer: to be close […]

HOMILY WEEK 16 01 -YEAR II Feast of Mary Magdalene: Great Faith and Great Love (Song of Songs 3:1-4a (or) 2 Cor 5:14-17; Ps 63; Jn 20:1-18) ****************************************************** There is an interesting convergence around this liturgical feast: recently, Sr. Teresita Kambeitz OSU offered a virtual retreat from Saskatoon hosted by our Star of the North […]

HOMILY SUN 16-B Meditation and Ministry – A Fine Balance (Jeremiah 23:1-6; Psalm 23; Ephesians 2:13-18; Mark 6:30-34) ***************************************************** Breathe deeply and hold your breath. Now let it out. What have we done? We have filled our two lungs with air. A Christian breathes with two lungs – a lung of prayer and a lung […]